IMPORTANT NOTE:The following are wholesale, not retail, prices. To figure our retail selling price, multiply the “ask” price by 1.035. To figure our retail buying price, multiple the “bid” price by 0.97. Lower commissions apply to larger orders, higher commissions to very small orders.

SPOT GOLD:

1,280.40

GOLD

Fine Tr.Oz.

BID

ASK

$/oz

American Eagle

1.00

1,314.97

1,323.29

1,323.29

1/2 AE

0.50

652.49

675.41

1,350.82

1/4 AE

0.25

329.45

344.11

1,376.43

1/10 AE

0.10

134.34

140.20

1,402.04

Aust. 100 corona

0.98

1,248.77

1,257.77

1,283.18

British sovereign

0.24

303.67

316.67

1,345.23

French 20 franc

0.19

240.84

244.84

1,311.43

Krugerrand

1.00

1,291.92

1,301.92

1,301.92

Maple Leaf

1.00

1,290.40

1,304.40

1,304.40

1/2 Maple Leaf

0.50

736.23

672.21

1,344.42

1/4 Maple Leaf

0.25

326.50

342.51

1,370.03

1/10 Maple Leaf

0.10

135.72

139.56

1,395.64

Mexican 50 peso

1.21

1,534.39

1,545.39

1,281.74

.9999 bar

1.00

1,284.88

1,292.40

1,292.40

SPOT SILVER:

17.39

SILVER

Fine Tr.Oz.

BID

ASK

$/oz

VG+ Morgan $B4 1905

0.77

22.50

26.00

33.99

VG+ Peace dollar

0.77

17.50

20.00

26.14

90% silver coin bags

0.72

13,002.28

13,288.28

18.59

US 40% silver 1/2s

0.30

5,010.58

5,172.58

17.53

100 oz .999 bar

100.00

1,763.50

1,788.50

17.89

10 oz .999 bar

10.00

175.35

180.35

18.04

1 oz .999 round

1.00

17.49

17.95

17.95

Am Eagle, 200 oz Min

1.00

18.89

20.14

20.14

SPOT PLATINUM:

1,054.40

PLATINUM

Fine Tr.Oz.

BID

ASK

$/oz

Plat. Platypus

1.00

1,069.40

1,099.40

1,099.40

Never disremember that currency exchange rates cannot be trusted. Why? Central banks manipulate the rates. Wherefore the extremest caution is in order when resting any decision on the direction of exchange rates, for they can abruptly reverse & cream you like mashed potatoes.

Now ’tis true that the US dollar appears to have turned up & back from the lip of hell. It posted a Key Reversal yesterday & tomorrow (regardless of the market, I’d like to add one more day’s confirming close to that). But I remind y’all that on 14 April the dollar seemed to have turned, & numbrous other times I could name. If the colluding central bank criminals have agreed to let the US dollar drop much lower, they will not pull the props out all at once, lest an unseemly panic damage all scrofulous fiat currencies. Rather, they play the market like a master fisherman plays a bass, now giving him line, now taking it away, but always deceiving the poor fish, doomed for the frying pan.

I’m saying this not to alibi for falling gold & silver, merely to remind y’all that exchange rate movements are generated in wildly unpredictable political criminal central bank minds, and not in nature.

Besides, I want y’all to ruminate on something else: central banks are fast losing credibility. Now measles is not a “credible” disease in that everyone scorns it, but it can still kill you. So, before central banks breath their longed-for final stinking breath, they are still dangerous, especially when fighting for their lives. That doesn’t alter, however, the metals’ December change in trend from five-years-down to UP. So whatever shenanigans the CB criminals may pull, silver & gold will keep steadily rising over the next 5-8 years.

Disbelieve that at your financial peril.

Stocks keep on rolling headlong downhill. Dow lost another 99.65 (0.56%) today and closed at 17,651.26. S&P500 held hands with the Dow, losing 12.25 (0.59%) to 2,051.12.

Stocks have now fallen out of a rising wedge, broken down through their up-channel line, poked through the 20 day moving average, and perched unsteadily just above their 50 day moving averages. Can some shiny-pointy-toed-shoe Wall Streeter to ‘splain to me how this is coming back? I’m such a nat’ral born durned fool I can’t figger it out, bless my heart.

Gold lost $17.40 (1.35%) today for a $1,273.30 close. Low came at $1,273.60. Silver peeled off 19.7¢ (1.13%) to close Comex at 1727.7¢.

Clearly gold has topped for the moment, but aside from that brilliant observation, what do it mean?? Is this a large correction starting, or only a tee-tiny one?

Durned if I know. If it’s only a small correction in a larger rally, then the correction will be short & shallow, maybe dropping to $1,245. If a larger degree correction, gold could fall to $1,200.

Gold has everything going for it that an overbought market need to accumulate before a correction: terrible Commitments of Traders, height above 200 DMA, overbought RSI, and multitudinous hot money speculators that have piled on to take their bite out of the “inflation trade.” But none of that tells me whether it will be a short or long correction, at least, not yet. Price will tell us in the next few days.

If gold is overbought, silver is overboughter, and enjoys all the drawbacks & warts of gold. However, the question remains, Will this be a large or small correction? A small one would work off the overboughtness so the rally could continue.

For right now, some indecision remains. However, both metals are entering a correction. That leaves us waiting for some turn-around signal. Keep watching.

Do NOT use these commentaries to trade futures contracts. I don’t intend them for that or write them with that short term trading outlook. I write them for long-term investors in physical metals. Take them as entertainment, but not as a timing service for futures.

NOR do I recommend investing in gold or silver Exchange Trade Funds (ETFs). Those are NOT physical metal and I fear one day one or another may go up in smoke. Unless you can breathe smoke, stay away. Call me paranoid, but the surviving rabbit is wary of traps.

NOR do I recommend trading futures options or other leveraged paper gold and silver products. These are not for the inexperienced.

NOR do I recommend buying gold and silver on margin or with debt.

What DO I recommend? Physical gold and silver coins and bars in your own hands.One final warning: NEVER insert a 747 Jumbo Jet up your nose.